Following from the first 6 focus areas for growth that I listed down last week, this week I want to continue by giving you the last 5 of my focus areas.
You cannot worry about or be scared of the outcome
“Opportunities are clearer to me now that I am not scared of the outcome.” Australian cyclist, Michael Rogers, when he won his first ever stage in the 2014 Tour de France, in his 10th Tour.
You know and understand that losses and failing are all part of any business at hand and that at times you will make mistakes. Nobody is perfect and no large set of decisions will have a 100% perfect outcome mostly for reasons that are out of your control. Negative outcomes are therefore absolutely inevitable. Worrying about or being scared of a possible negative outcome is fear at work.
Fear shuts one’s mind to all possibilities and focuses it on just the negative possibilities. Fear freezes one into poor execution, way below one’s ability and distorts ones skills and knowledge in a way that the focus of the fear manifests itself as the outcome.
Fear happens when one is ill prepared in strategy, skills, knowledge, tools, practice, purpose and goals.
Acquire, equip and prepare yourself with these and you will build trust to overcome the fear of a negative outcome of any decision. You cannot trust and fear at the same time, one will have the upper hand. Trust is liberating.
Stay Positive
We have all had positive and negative outcomes in the past in all that we have done. It is our choice as to whether we recall and associate with our past negative or our past positive outcomes.
Choose to visualise your past positive outcomes in your minds-eye when confronted with a challenge. This heightens the possibility of becoming confident in the moment and executing the given task at hand to the best of your ability.
Confidence is thinking about what you want to happen not about what you don’t want to happen and greatly increases the probability of executing as you intended but doesn’t guarantee the outcome.
The environment is stimulating and rewarding in the long run
Ensure that you place yourself in an environment that engenders the above values and principles. Whilst not every day will be exciting, in the majority ensure you are positively challenged and provided with continual opportunities to stimulate growth and hopefully profit.
Despite the challenges, the overall expectation, according to the Law of Large Numbers, should be one of positive results and a positive feedback loop from which you can continually grow. Whilst there is more to it than money, money is still important to provide a platform from which all of the above can be achieved.
In my view, active investment in the financial markets has all the challenges and traits of an environment that will test every facet of growing as a human being.
Those you associate and work with are also learning and growing
In a positive environment, growth and learning are encouraged and emphasised. If we are all in this together, why not create a challenging environment where many can benefit from each other’s skills, experiences, feedback and collaboration.
Change is good
Growth also stems from change. If we are stuck in a pattern that isn’t working, we need to be encouraged and challenged to implement changes and adapt for the better.
I challenge you:
Are the environments in which you operate supportive of growth at these sorts of levels, or are you somehow being stifled and prevented from stepping outside of your comfort zone?
Are you on a pathway that leads to a purpose that you have identified or do you feel as though some change is required to re-route your journey?
